David Liebman

Review

by JD Considine, Downbeat
Typically, when we think of eco-conscious music, what we imagine is built around acoustic instruments. To some extent, we can credit this to the Paul Winter Consort’s “Earth Music” albums of the late ’60s and early ’70s, which used saxophone, flute, English horn and cello to articulate the composer’s intent. Those instruments were deemed more “natural” than electric guitars or synthesizers, even though the saxophone is very much a product of the industrial revolution, while the recording process itself is both technologically intensive and far from green.
All this came to mind while listening to The Dave Liebman Group’s Earth, an album that concludes the saxophonist’s Four Elements project (earlier entries include Water, with Pat Metheny, Cecil McBee and Billy Hart; Air, with synthesist Walter Quintus; and Fire, with Kenny Werner, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette). Here, Liebman takes the opposite approach to expressing the natural wonders of the world, emphasizing the textural possibilities of digital and electronic sound over the traditional sonorities of wind and strings. “I am the lone acoustic instrument juxtaposing the old and the new (with the drums in the same time zone),” he writes in the liner notes.
It’s not an obvious strategy, but it works—not because the music evokes specific landscapes or seasons, either. Rather than take a programmatic approach like, say, Ferde Grofé’s “Grand Canyon Suite,” Liebman’s band opts instead to use the breadth of its sonic palette to reflect the enormous variety of our earth. “Earth Theme,” then, conveys its sense of vastness by contrasting Liebman’s soprano against the heaviness of Tony Marino’s electric bass while Bobby Avey’s wispy, white-noise synths wash over the ensemble like ethereal mist. “Volcano/Avalanche” uses electronics to blur the tonal center of Matt Vashlishan’s wind synthesizer and Avey’s keys, while a different effect scrambles the sound of Marino’s bass, making it sometimes hard to tell up from down with the harmony. And the high point of “Concrete Jungle” comes in an improvised exchange between Liebman and Vashlishan in which the saxophonist reacts not just to the notes the synthesist is playing, but also the instrument’s shape-shifting textures.
Jazz certainly would benefit from more creative uses of digital and electronic instruments.
by Jim Hynes
Glide
In the late ‘90s renowned composer and saxophonist Dave Liebman embarked on a project to musically interpret the four natural elements – water, air, fire, and now Earth, marking the culmination of the 4-album opus. Each was recorded with a different supporting unit and Earth, Liebman’s impassioned plea for the planet, (releasing barely two weeks after Trump killed environmental protection for rivers and streams) features his newest ensemble, Expansions, a quintet comprised of veterans and young lions. They are Bobby Avery (piano), Matt Vashlishan (wind synth), Alex Ritz (drums) and veteran Tony Marino (bass). NEA Jazz Master Liebman plays evocative soprano sax and wooden recorder. Liebman says, “This recording celebrating different aspects of our planet relies heavily on colors emanating from various digital and sound source equipment used by the keyboard and wind synthesizer. For me on the soprano sax, I am the lone acoustic instrument juxtaposing the old and the new (with the drums in the same zone). Melody and harmony play a lesser role in this kind of music…texture rules.”
First, lest there be any newcomers to Liebman, here is a quick thumbnail. His career has spanned nearly five decades, beginning in the early 1970s as the saxophone/flutist in both the Elvin Jones and Miles Davis Groups (fusion period), continuing as a bandleader since. He has played on over five hundred recordings with nearly two hundred under his leadership and co-leadership. In jazz education, he is a renowned lecturer and author of several milestone books: Self Portrait Of A Jazz Artist, A Chromatic Approach To Jazz Harmony And Melody, Developing A Personal Saxophone Sound (translated into multiple languages). In addition to his stints with Miles (On the Corner), he is considered an astute student of John Coltrane, especially on soprano sax and has many recordings attesting to it., 1998’s John Coltrane’s Meditations and 2017’s collaborative effort with fellow saxophonist Joe Lovano, Compassion: The Music of John Coltrane, among them.   He has also written his autobiography What It Is – The Life of A Jazz Artist (Scarecrow Press). We could go on endlessly but realize that his bands have included noted musicians such as John Scofield, Richie Beirach, Bob Moses, Billy Hart, and others. He is currently teaching at the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, Princeton University and is a guest lecturer at Berklee College of Music. Liebman has consistently placed in the top positions for Soprano Saxophone in the Downbeat, Jazz Times and JazzEd polls since 1973.
The approach to Earth is, to be fair, esoteric, but it’s the results that most matter. The nearly five-hundred compositions that make up Liebman’s musical canon were mostly conceived with the meaning of the piece coming first before the composer delved into the intricacies of songwriting. The process of composing Earth was no different. In this case,. The composer had the idea to compose each track using a method that he refers to as interval selection. Liebman explains, “Each composition has a specific intervallic element. For example, “Concrete Jungle” features the intervals of fourths and fifths, suggesting a city landscape, while “Sahara” incorporates major and minor seconds representing the heat and sun of the desert… This recording centers around the atmosphere created when intervals are played expressively with a melodic contour.”
Close listening of the meshing of acoustic and electronic will inevitably reveal patterns and lines that evoke work of  Miles and Trane. The opening “Earth Theme” is an ethereal soundscape is created by the keyboard and wind synthesizers before Liebman makes a stunning signature lone-cry-in-the wilderness entrance on soprano, as if new growth is sprouting. After a bass interlude, major and minor sixths cascade down like the spewing of rocks and lava in “Volcano/Avalanche” following some dissonant electronics, which represent the Earth expelling its contents from the gut of the planet per Liebman’s incendiary solo. The quintet performs with unbridled power and intensity on this track. Ritz is particularly explosive on the drums, with Bobby Avery providing otherworldly improvisation and accompaniment using synthesized sound. This movement brilliantly depicts a theme of this album, a world where the organic and the technological must coexist.
A mysterious jungle-like percussion and flute interlude, replete with wind synths leads into “Sahara” , inspired by the composer’s trip to Mauritania in the Western Sahara some years ago. Liebman notes “The desert landscape is unique in its bleakness but powerful in its consistency.” The ensemble reflects the musical imagery of the Sahara and its bleak, vast solitude with Liebman’s stunning soprano airy and compelling as the ensemble supports sensitively and harmonically with judicious use of electronics and percussion. Toward the end, Liebman is in full flight before surrendering calmly to the barren landscape. A lovely soprano interlude precedes “Grand Canyon/Mt. Everest” with Liebman’s soprano conveying utter awe of these magnificent creations.
A drum interlude leads into “Concrete Jungle,” naturally frenetic with intervals of fourths and fifths, suggesting a city landscape. Avery’s piano work here is impressively inventive, mirroring the chaotic theme as is the layered interplay between Liebman’s soprano and his wooden recorder.  A stark piano interlude appropriately leads into “Dust to Dust,” an ethereal composition with strong dialogue between Liebman and Vashlishan as Avery comps on Fender Rhodes, Ritz adds the mysterious drum patterns and Marino takes a wild excursion on bass. A foreboding wind synth interlude introduces the complex fusion patterns of “Galaxy” and the album closes reprising the “Earth” theme.  This is masterful imaginative music, perhaps even a side of Liebman you haven’t heard. Take it all in and get lost. The music will evoke incredible imagery.
by Filipe Freitas
JAZZ TRAIL
Top-notch hornman Dave Liebman reunites his adventurous multi-generational Expansion quintet - reedist Matt Vashlishan, pianist Bobby Avey, veteran bassist Tony Marino, and drummer Alex Ritz - to present a new suite called Earth. The album marks the fourth outing of the group, also being the fourth and last installment of Liebman’s element series, whose previous chapters were released in 1996 (Water), 2006 (Air), and 2016 (Fire) with different bands and configurations. Liebman, who composed each track on Earth with a specific interval in mind, rips through these earthly sceneries in a freewheeling fashion, devising ambitious electro-acoustic sonorities that push the envelope of conventional jazz.
“Earth Theme” bookends the album, going from vagueness to consistency, but it’s “Volcano/Avalanche” that instantly earns our attention through parallel lines based on intervals of sixth and effect-laden synth tapestries. Arranged with intelligence, this textural wizardry has its vision projected into the future, and to hear Liebman’s unquiet soprano rides over humming drones is like having an acid trip.
Strategically placed between the main compositions, there are interludes in a total of six. Each of them features a particular instrument or two. Take the case of the percussion/flute collaboration, which works as a perfect preamble for the desert-inspired “The Sahara”. Intervals of major and minor second confer the latter piece the desired exotic touch, yet the wind effects, bass trance, and corrosive synth chords create an ambiance of mystery that goes beyond the sky-and-sand landscape.
Whereas the more tranquil “Grand Canyon/Mt. Everest” makes use of Ritz’s fine brushwork to soar to the height of the mountainous regions that describes, “Concrete Jungle” lives in a wildly toxic swinging acceleration. With more angles than curves, this piece places a spotlight on Avey and then embarks on an animated call-and-response between Vashlishan and the bandleader.
“Dust to Dust” consists of a bunch of motifs echoed in sequence. If the attentive communication between the musicians is plainly expressed here, then it transcends expectations on the intoxicating “Galaxy”. The latter piece, previously introduced by wind synthesizer, falls into a sort of free funk pervaded with brisk and ebullient breakbeats, soprano madness, and mercurial electro-synth mosaics.
Not all the parts of Earth are at the same level, but this rich sensory experience is keen to captivate enthusiasts of jazz fusion and futuristic post-bop alike.
by Rob Shepherd
NEXTBOP
Scientists estimate that the earth vibrates at varying frequencies between 7.83 and 33.8 Hz. Of course, music also consists of rhythmic waves, though they are limited to our unaided hearing range from 20 to 20,000 Hz. As a result, many of our planet’s tones are wholly incapable of being perceived. Earth, the latest Expansions album lead by saxophonist Dave Liebman undertakes the Herculean act of transforming the entirety of planetary sounds into a human auditory experience. At this effort, the band overwhelmingly succeeds.
On “Volcano/Avalanche” one sonically witnesses the fury of plates sliding against one another with explosive results. “The Sahara” shifts to a lonely camel rider trotting across a beautiful, yet desolate and arid, land only to be subsumed by a violent sandstorm. “Grand Canyon/Mt Everest” depicts great high and low natural contours which later transform to the urban and artificial ones of “Concrete Jungle.” Separating each main track is a series of solo (on one, duet) interludes which serve to transition between scenes as if traveling from place to place. By “Wind Synth Interlude” these voyages move out of orbit to viewing the “Galaxy” more broadly.
Earth is a heavily exploratory musical affair, both compositionally and in terms of delivery. Each song utilizes specific intervallic elements to better express their subject. “Sahara” relies on major and minor seconds to depict heat and sun whereas “Concrete Jungle” portrays hectic city life by fourths and fifths. In doing so, the musicians emphasize texture above traditional notions of harmony or melody. This method of songwriting does not always succeed or advance the album’s overarching concept. The two versions of “Earth Theme”, for instance, seem to distract from the record’s overall arc more than add to it. Placing the primary focus on feeling rather than more traditional musical hallmarks is also likely to be off-putting to some listeners. Nevertheless, the unique techniques adopted generally strengthen the artists’ storytelling and render even the primarily electronic soundscapes – with soprano sax the only consistently acoustic instrument – uncharacteristically reflective of the work’s emphasis on natural and organic topics.
In many ways, this group is the perfect setting to examine this particular music. The bandleader himself is no novice to expressing natural elements through sound, as this is the fourth of his such releases after 1997’s Water, 2006’s Air, and 2016’s Fire. Nor is he a stranger to mixing various tones to paint a picture. After all, the NEA Jazz Master is a prominent figure on one of the most musically diverse (and arguably best) albums of all time, Miles Davis’ On the Corner, the influence of which is readily apparent on “Galaxy”. And that is not even getting into how Liebman’s masterwork Lookout Farm or the hundreds of other recordings to his credit guide the current one.
That said, however, Earth is truly a collaborative effort as each of the band’s members shine throughout. Given its complexity, it often seems like the quintet – Liebman on soprano sax, pianist Bobby Avey, windplayer Matt Vashlishan, drummer Alex Ritz and bassist Tony Marino – is attempting to disguise itself as a much larger ensemble. The collective is simultaneously tight, expressive, and inventive. While their three preceding releases presented interesting approaches to jazz standards, classical pieces, and originals, Earth feels like Expansion’s most fully realized work to date.
by Richard Kamins
STEP TEMPEST
Been over two decades since saxophonist and NEA Jazz master Dave Liebman began his musical exploration and interpretation of the four Natural Elements. Starting in 1997 with "Water" (featuring Pat Metheny, Billy Hart, and Cecil McBee), then moving on to "Air" (a 2006 duo with computer whiz Walter Quintus), and then 2016's "Fire" (with Kenny Werner, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette. Liebman brings the cycle to a close with "Earth" (Whaling City Sounds), a 14-piece suite that features his touring and recording group Expansions. The leader brings his signature soprano saxophone plus wooden recorder; the group consists of Matt Vashlishan (Wind synth, reeds), Bobby Avey (piano, keyboards), Alex Ritz (drums), and longtime associate Tony Marino (electric bass).
Liebman constructed this band to be an electro-acoustic outfit and no one exemplifies that more than Vashlishan. having seen the group in concert, it's impressive how he blends the wind synth in the more traditional sounds of piano, bass, and drums. One can hear that in all its glory on "Volcano/Avalanche" where his instrument creates the former and Liebman's darting soprano lines the other. Marino's bass and Ritz's drums keep the music from falling apart as well as add to the energy needed to tell the story. "The Sahara" is introduced by the percussion/ wooden flute "Interlude", complete with wind sounds from the synth and bass. The evocative soprano sax lead then blends with the wind synth to push the song into a different mood. Avey's electric piano solo over the powerful drum playing stands out.
There are amazing moments throughout. The short "Interludes" not only serve as solo spotlights (in the instances above and below, an augmented duo) but also introduce the following track. Avey's piano spot may remind some of a waterfall or a gentle rain outside the window while Vashlishan's seems other-worldly but not unlike the synth work of the late Joe Zawinul. Ritz's spot is conversational while Marino plays a chordal riff with the drummer keeping time. Liebman's soprano solo "Interlude" is evocative of standing on a ridge and leads into "Grand Canyon/ Mt. Everest", a musical appreciation of these natural wonders with each voice stepping forward and then back into the ensemble in a slow procession that compels the listener to sit and let the music unfold, not to rush to move forward but take in the beauty of creation.
The music moves back from its close examination of the natural wonders of "Earth" to its place in the greater Cosmos. The album closes with "Galaxy", a raucous, funk-driven piece that has the feel of the music Miles Davis created for the "On The Corner". Marino and Ritz really drive this piece with Avey's chattering keys, Vashlishan's squealing wind synth, and Liebman's fiery soprano lines fluttering over the top of it. Midway through the piece, Avey steps out with just Ritz supplying the pulse before Marino reenters and pushes them harder. The ends then come in and help to take the piece into a short restatement of "Earth Theme", bringing the project back to a close but also serving as an invitation to reenter this music's rich atmosphere.
The pictures that Dave Liebman Expansions creates on "Earth" come into clearer focus each time you listen. This is music that connects you to the natural world in unexpected ways, asking one to pay closer attention to the majesty of what is all around you, impelling you to go outside away from the daily hustle if only for a short walk in the woods or by a river or near a pond or up to a mountain top.
by Ken Dryden
New York City Jazz Record
Saxophonist Dave Liebman has long been one of the most adventurous and unpredictable jazz musicians, his discography touching on nearly every jazz style known. Liebman is always working simultaneously on multiple projects; some are one-offs but in many of them he finds fertile enough ground to return. Several of his best recordings over the past decade have featured his quintet Expansions with saxophonist Matt Vashlishan, keyboard player Bobby Avey, bassist Tony Marino and drummer Alex Ritz. Expansions has explored both original acoustic and electronic compositions by the group’s members, in addition to reinterpreting standards and timeless jazz works, breaking new ground with each performance.
The new CD Earth is the concluding chapter to Liebman’s nature series (proceeded by Water, Air and Fire, though these were all recorded by other Liebman bands) and features Vashlishan exclusively on wind synthesizer. Liebman’s music ranges from composed passages to freewheeling group improvisations, including turbulent images of nature, busy urban settings and spacious musical landscapes. Liebman helps the listener adjust from one track to the next via brief improvised interludes that feature different instruments in the foreground.
As with his earlier recordings with Expansions, there is plenty of surprise in store for the listener. It is a bit of a change not hearing Vashlishan on his usual instruments (alto saxophone, clarinet and flute), but wind synthesizer is one of the facets that makes the music unique. The explosive blend of it and soprano saxophone in “Volcano/Avalanche” is intense, though
its sudden ending adds a whimsical touch. The contrast with “Grand Canyon/Mt. Everest” is striking, as its
deliberate pacing and alternating between the full group and showcasing each instrument conveys a
sense of wonder.
Liebman’s demanding music always requires top- notch musicians and his band understood his vision and helped him bring this outstanding project to life.
by Steve Feeney
ARTSFUSE
Veteran Dave Liebman’s Coltrane connection began with his trips as a teenager to hear the saxophonist play live in New York City. He later got to play in a band led by Elvin Jones, the drummer forever associated with the classic Coltrane Quartet of the early ’60s. In recent years, Liebman was part of a notable Coltrane tribute album with Joe Lovano. (Arts Fuse review)
Alice Coltrane released an album called The Elements in 1974, and now we have Liebman completing his quartet of discs devoted to the same themes. Earth, in the words of the composer/leader, is a “recording celebrating different aspects of our planet.”
Liebman features his own soprano sax and wooden flute along with his recent regular bandmates, Bobby Avey (vintage vibe and acoustic pianos), Matt Vashlishan (wind synthesizer), Tony Marino (electric bass), and Alex Ritz (drums and kanjira).
The emphasis on processed sound here is a notable departure from much of the group’s previous work. Electronics also figure prominently and, when combined with the leader’s soprano, the composite reminds this listener of some of the work of Jane Ira Bloom.
The “Earth Theme” starts us off deep in the ozone. Distancing electronics pave the way for the band’s slow establishment of mysterious matter(s).  Earthwise, could this be the beginning and a foreshadowing of the end?
Liebman explains in his notes that intervals, color, and texture are central to the disc. After a twangy bass interlude, we’re taken into a nerve-wracking “Volcano/Avalanche,” a composition that lives up to its title. There’s anxiety-producing power to spare. High and low electronic bleeps and squalls are attention-getting examples of Liebman’s desire to draw on a broad sonic palette.
A “Percussion/Flute Interlude” moves in a more organic direction, and that is followed by “The Sahara,” a landscape dominated by windswept harmonies and an electronic tumble that recalls Liebman’s time with the electric Miles Davis in the early ’70s.
“Grand Canyon/Mt. Everest” takes a slow hike through some heady terrain. “Concrete Jungle” picks up the pace considerably: the soprano sax/synthesizer harmonies give way to a Marino trot over a quick, shuffling beat. Avey’s piano fragments add to the hustle and bustle before he switches to electronics and trades lines with Liebman.
“Dust to Dust” slowly explores a nebulous electro-acoustic environment, with the leader’s probing melodic line providing direction. “Galaxy” takes us back to neo-Milesian turf via a stop-and-start cadence with Liebman appending piquant commentary.
While both Liebman and Benjamin tap into their monumental forebears, I’d have to give the edge to Liebman in terms of innovative creative reach. But Benjamin more than holds her own in how she gives revitalizing attention to some very important musical roots.
by Eddie Myer
JAZZ VIEWS (UK)
Soprano sax specialist, patrician educator and author of several books on jazz theory and practice, veteran of Miles and Elvin Jones’ bands and well-respected bandleader and recording artist in his own right, Dave Liebman is an artist who doesn’t believe in standing still. This album is the latest in a decades-long project to “musically depict manifestations of the four natural elements”, and to this end Liebman has surrounded his fluid, biting-toned soprano with an array of electronic instruments and signal processors to create a kind of electro-free-fusion. His credentials as a major compositional force in the music are evident in the startlingly original, carefully wrought theme that’s stated in unison at the end of ‘Earth Theme’, which comes after a protracted free-time textural exploration with all manner of harmonisers and modulation effects being freely applied to sporano, keyboards, bass guitar and miscellaneous unidentifiable reeds alike.
The album’s compositions are created according to an intervallic scheme of Liebman’s own devising, and there’s no denying the power of his artistic imagination or the rigour of his theoretical framework but unfortunately the preponderance of outré electronic squelches, bleeps, squeaks and wibbles have a cumulatively comic effect that unintentionally undermines the seriousness of the intent. ‘Grand Canyon/Mt Everest’ dials back the textural experimentation in favour of a hushed sense of space that is genuinely evocative, and ‘Concrete Jungle’ shows how fast and tight the band can swing - ‘Galaxy’ is a kind of utterly demented 16th note funk that defies categorisation, showcasing the extraordinary polyrhythmic talents of drummer Alex Ritz. The band are awesomely accomplished, and there’s a powerful musical intelligence throughout that leaves a lasting impression: this certainly sounds like nothing else currently on offer.
by George Kanzler
HOT HOUSE
Soprano saxophonist, composer, educator and NEA Jazz Master Dave Liebman cut his teeth in ensembles led by Miles Davis and Elvin Jones in the 1970s. “I chose the soprano because I thought I could find something that could be Dave Liebman,” he says, “rather than Dave Liebman through Wayne Shorter, Miles or Coltrane.”
He succeeded, creating his own distinctive soprano sax sound. That’s no small feat, when you consider that the benchmarks of the instrument are John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Steve Lacy.
The 73-year-old’s powerful, poetic and piercing saxophone can be heard on the more than 200 recordings he has to his credit as a sideman and leader. That sound is the centerpiece of Dave’s latest CD, Earth, with his group, Expansions, consisting of pianist Bobby Avey, saxophonist Matt Vashlishan, drummer Alex Ritz and bassist Tony Marino.
Earth is the final installment of a four-album opus that started in 1997 with Water, featuring Pat Metheny, Cecil McBee and Billy Hart. Air followed in 2006, with engineer Walter Quintus; then Fire in 2016, with Kenny Werner, Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland.
On Earth, the emphasis is on color and texture, along the lines of 20th-century classical music. The recording’s selections evoke different aspects of the planet. “Concrete Jungle” calls to mind the city’s hustle and bustle, while “Sahara,” represents the power of the sun. “Earth Theme” conjures the planet’s birth, and “Volcano/Avalanche” reminds us of the Earth’s shifting and turbulent landscape.
“This recording is a continuation, in that my compositions, which comprise this record, and the other three—Air, Fire and Water—come from impressions of these elements,” Dave says. “For example, ‘Sahara,’ one of the titles on the new record, evokes a picture of the music. I would have really been a film scorer, because [I see music] visually: You say red to me and I see it visually in its different facets, and it translates over to the horn.”
Another difference on Earth is the fact that Dave—unlike at the start of the elements recordings—is now an elder statesman and mentor. “Matt and Bobby studied with me and my wife, who teaches ear training in the Poconos,” the saxophonist says. “They’ve been a part of my tribe, and I knew what they could do. The thing is, when you’re the oldest guy in the band—in terms of experience—you bring that to the stage, and they’re thirsting for that. They want to know how I think about music. Mentoring is a great thing.”
Mentoring is something Dave had an abundance of, having worked in Miles Davis’ ’70s ensembles. He recorded on the trumpeter’s seminal albums On the Corner and Dark Magus, and with Elvin Jones on several of the drummer’s recordings, including Genesis and Live at the Lighthouse, during the same period. “Elvin did not call out a chord, or say that bar 13 is an E-flat7,” Dave says. “He didn’t say much, and neither did Miles, because he had his reputation, personality and power behind him. He was legendary, and Elvin was, too. He was like a father to me, with his sense of humanity, and the way he treated people. He was a big personality, with a big smile; Miles would turn his back [to the audience] and go back to his dressing room.”
Dave took the best of Davis’ and Jones’ leadership styles and created many ensembles and recordings covering a wide range of genres. His albums as a leader include First Visit in 1973 and Lookout Farm in 1974. In 1981, he co-founded Quest, a supergroup that was composed of pianist Richie Beirach, bassist Ron McClure and drummers Billy Hart and Al Foster.
Five years later, Dave left New York and moved to Stroudsburg, in Pennsylvania’s Poconos, where he lived for 32 years. The area was a haven for many jazz greats including Phil Woods, Urbie Green and Steve Gilmore. “My wife knew that area, and we were done with New York,” the saxophonist says.” I had been in the city my whole life.”
The release of Earth coincides with Dave’s move back to the city, and is a reminder of his time in the country. “These four elements—fire, air, water and earth—are a picture of my reflections on my Stroudsburg years,” he says. “We moved back to New York because we had our time out there. We brought up our daughter, and we were able to make a scene there. And not to be morbid, but if I began in New York, I’m going to end in New York.”
 
ALL ABOUT JAZZ 
by Chris Slawecki
When saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Dave Liebman groks a musical vision, he dreams big and deep. "In the late 1990s," Liebman recalls, "I embarked on a project to musically depict manifestations of the four natural elements. In 1997 I recorded Water with Pat Metheny, Billy Hart and Cecil McBee; in 2006, I did Air with the late genius engineer Walter Quintus; fast forward to 2016 for Fire featuring Kenny Werner, Jack DeJohnette, and Dave Holland; finally, with my present group Expansions, I conclude the series with Earth."

Released nearly twenty-five years after the series' first installment, Earth paints sonic portraits of "The Sahara," "Grand Canyon/Mount Everest" and other majestic natural landmarks, plus one of man's most cunning modern contraptions, the "Concrete Jungle." Expansions sketch and color them from a celestial viewpoint, like you're circling around instead of walking upon them, and intersperse these portraits with improvised instrumental interludes on bass (Tony Marino), percussion and flute (Alex Ritz), drums (Ritz), piano (Bobby Avey), wind synthesizer (Matt Vashilishan) and of course Liebman's soprano sax.

Liebman's orbital portrait of Earth is abstract, almost clinical, in its observational perspective. It opens and closes with "Earth Theme," with the leader's unaccompanied soprano sax prying the lid up and off of the surrounding electronics until the polyphony of the planet slowly emerges into fuller view.

For a song about molten and tumbling rock, "Volcano/Avalanche" sounds very open and free. Soprano and keyboard sounds coalesce around a loping bass line and drums, then the soprano sax and wind synthesizer erupt into a screaming argument that leaves the bass and drums scrambling in pursuit. "Volcano/Avalanche" connects to "The Sahara" via the "Percussion/Flute Interlude" that Ritz improvises with a natural and native, warm acoustic sound.

"The Sahara" is the longest piece on Earth and also the composition that makes most effective use of the complete ensemble instead of just pieces of it. Bassist Marino keeps the ground moving like a busy bulldozer while pianist Avey untethers an electric solo that the ensemble watches float up and away. Liebman's soprano returns to lead the final expedition.

Dave Liebman's expansive Expansions: Earth is powerfully and literally spaced out. "This recording celebrating different aspects of our planet relies heavily on colors emanating from various digital and sound source equipment used by the keyboard and wind synthesizer," he suggests. "For me on the soprano sax, I am the lone acoustic instrument juxtaposing the old and the new (with the drums in the same zone). Melody and harmony play a lesser role in this kind of music...texture rules."